If there’s one band that has turned the art of concept albums into an intergalactic, multi-dimensional masterclass, it’s Coheed and Cambria.
Over two decades, Claudio Sanchez and co. have built The Amory Wars into a sci-fi mythology that’s as expansive as it is emotional. But with The Father of Make Believe, things get more personal.
The album still carries that signature prog-rock intensity, but it also strips things back, confronting loss, identity, and the existential chaos of being a musician, a storyteller, and a human all at once. Speaking to Tone Deaf exclusively, Claudio Sanchez takes us through The Father of Make Believe—track by track.
1. “Yesterday’s Lost”
“I wrote ‘Yesterday’s Lost’ about losing your significant other, and what the journey would be like without them. When my uncle passed away, it also reminded me of the passing of my grandfather who had lived 35-40 years without his wife. That’s really what sent me on the trajectory that is the record that follows.”
2. “Goodbye, Sunshine”
“With ‘Goodbye, Sunshine,’ I wrote that almost like I’m standing at the funeral procession of Coheed and Cambria, and I’m celebrating all of the good and bad that it’s afforded me in this life; but it’s almost like a goodbye.”
3. “Searching For Tomorrow”
“‘Searching For Tomorrow’ begins this idea of looking for something better. Here I am standing at the funeral procession of Coheed and Cambria, and basically looking for something else. And by looking and trying to find something better than what you have, you’re almost blinding yourself from reality. That’s what this song is really about, it’s blinding yourself from the good thing you have when you’re searching for something better.”
4. “The Father of Make Believe”
“The title track is really about being whatever I need to be for the listener of the music. As the deliverer of the message, it’s all about: whatever your imagination takes from the song – I can be that for you. That’s what it’s really about, especially with the partnering of the story, and also without the story. However you want to digest this music, whatever you take from it, whatever personal connection that you take from this music is what this song, and in fact all of these songs, are about.”
5. “Meri of Mercy”
“I wrote ‘Meri of Mercy’ in Paris, and that’s actually where the whole concept of The Amory Wars was born. But when my grandfather passed away, I was thinking again about the 35 or so years he had lived without his wife, and maybe the reuniting of him and my grandmother when he passed.
I had this beautiful day outside, I had this view of Sacré Cœur in the distance, and I’m just sitting there in my Airbnb alone for the first time in god knows how long. My wife was in Italy, my son was at home with his grandparents, and I didn’t have the entourage of Coheed and Cambria, it was just me. I just started writing the song about companionship, and in that moment it really reminded me of my grandfather.
My grandfather passed away during the pandemic, and at the time all of the hospitals were shut down. My brother was a first responder, and he told me while my grandfather was in the hospital and not all there, he was dancing. He was miming dancing from the hospital bed. And for me, that created this vision of him reconnecting with my grandmother Mary. Her name was Mary, not Meri, but that’s why this song has this 3/4 waltz kind of vibe. It’s really, in my imagination, the reconnection of my grandfather and my grandmother.”
6. “Blind Side Sonny”
“‘Blind Side Sonny’ is another song that I wrote in Paris. At the time, I’d been alone for almost five or six days. I was just lost with my thoughts and thinking about the concept of this record, and all of the things that kind of come with it. I think it drove me to the point of tormenting myself, and getting mad at myself for some of the decisions I had made to get here, shrouding myself in mystery, shrouding myself in concept. I just wanted to be free. And I think that’s where the intensity and the rage of that song comes from, just battering myself with tormenting questions to let loose.”
7. “Play The Poet”
“‘Play The Poet’ is interesting. I sometimes think of the concept as the thing that is easy for people to discredit, the creativity of Coheed and Cambria, the honesty of Coheed and Cambria. So for me, it was almost like this transformation of stepping away from being this make-believe, science fiction guy and to just play the poet, just get out of that, be honest, and make your life the source of the poetry that’s in the song.”
8. “One Last Miracle”
“‘One Last Miracle’ is interesting to me. It’s like this one last chance at being another version of Coheed to the world. And outside of that, it also touches on the way things are perceived by the media that are coming towards you. There’s a little bit of that in there as well, trying to shake that and try to find honesty in both self and the world around you.”
9. “Corner My Confidence”
“I actually wrote ‘Corner My Confidence’ on the Coheed cruise [S.S. Neverender]. And I wrote that song for my wife. Again, it goes in line with one of the big themes of the record, the loss of a significant other. But this is almost me attributing or really just writing a song for her. It was written on the cruise, and it was a little different, dare I say it had a John Mayer kind of vibe to it. When I brought it to Zakk Cervini, this was one where he tweaked it and he suggested more of the straight finger-picking delivery. So I went with that, and we collaborated on that writing process and made it the song that we have now.”
10. “Someone Who Can”
“I actually wrote ‘Someone Who Can’ as a solo effort. I have a room in my house that has a piano in it, so I set up two microphones and I played acoustic guitar, piano and box drum. It had a shuffle, and it was very much like the song that you hear now, but the instrumentation was different. I wrote that song because, as I get older, people’s desires are changing. We’re getting older, you’re starting to get to a place where there are things you want to accomplish, and now is the time to do ‘em. And sometimes those don’t align with you! For me, I want to be someone who can accept that and be okay with that.”
